Houston: Gunman Larry McQuilliams, who fired more than 100 gunshots at government offices last week, was a "homegrown American extremist" connected to an extremist Christian group, police in Austin said on Monday.

"He had hate in his heart," Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said.

Police said McQuilliams, 49, belonged to the Phineas Priesthood, a white supremacist group based in the Pacific Northwest that is responsible for armed robberies, abortion-clinic bombings and planned attacks on FBI buildings.
Lone mission: Larry McQuilliams was a member of a Christian supremacist group.

Lone mission: Larry McQuilliams was a member of a Christian supremacist group. Photo: Facebook

He had served time for a 1992 armed robbery, but acted alone in last week's carefully planned attack, Mr Acevedo said.

Days before, McQuilliams rented a white van and packed it with supplies, including several guns; ammunition; a gas mask; homemade explosives; a list of 34 targets (among them two churches); and the book Vigilantes of Christendom, in which he left a note describing himself as a priest  opposed to "anti-God people", Mr Acevedo said.

The first shots were reported at 2.18am on Friday,  when the gunman targeted police headquarters, a federal courthouse and the Mexican consulate.

Austin Police Sergeant Adam Johnson was nearby with a mounted patrol. As McQuilliams fired what sounded like an automatic rifle, Sergeant Johnson gripped the reins of two horses with one hand and with the other took aim in the dark, Mr Acevedo said. Johnson fired a single shot that struck and killed McQuilliams. No one else was injured in the attack.

At the medical examiner's office, officials discovered McQuilliams had scrawled  the message "let me die" on his chest, beneath a tactical vest stuffed with ammunition.

He did not leave a note explaining his motives. Neighbours at his South Austin apartment complex described him as an impoverished, gentle loner who rode his bicycle to work at a nearby car wash. He was also a Renaissance Faire enthusiast. Investigators said he appeared "upset by the fact that he could not find employment".

"In his eyes, many immigrants had more services afforded to them than he had himself," said Christopher Combes, FBI special agent in charge of the San Antonio division office.

The Austin police chief said investigators were still trying to determine whether McQuilliams was mentally ill and how, as a convicted felon, he managed to obtain several guns.

"We have a country where it's way too easy for people to use straw purchasers to get these guns in their hands," Mr Acevedo said, noting that he and other police chiefs have called for legislation that would restrict such purchases of guns, "to ensure we protect the Second Amendment by keeping them in the hands of law-abiding Americans of sound mind".

Datalife wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 3:09pm:


Probably because unlike 99% of discussions here, the purpose of this thread is not to demonstrate the innate evilness of one particular religious doctrine - but rather to demonstrate that religious extremism is not unique to just one religion.

|dev|null wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 3:17pm:


Well it is that inconsistency which was the point of my post and which you are amply displaying as I knew you would. You are an apologist and a dissembler for excesses and atrocities inspired by one religion but not for equivalent actions done by another.

If this had been posted but it referring to an islamic gunman, yourself, Brain and Gandy would have been all over it. 

Still no "hey look over there" posts from you referencing an islamic atrocity.  Your Google suddenly broken?  You don't normally need to be prompted, you and Brain both.  Not so impartial as you pretend obviously. 

Datalife wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 3:28pm:


If HB had garnished this story with irrelevant bible quotes and/or references to some unrelated incitement by some extreme christian "leaders" - or even some inane comment at the end of the story like "christianity always begets violence" - as the discussions on muslim crimes always are - then you might have a point. And yes, in such a situation I would be pouncing on it to say no, this has nothing to do with christian doctrine.

polite_gandalf wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 3:37pm:


Hot Socks is Wally? I guess that explains why he made a thread about a Christian extremist. 

But I don't believe you, if this had been posted exactly as it is, but in reference to an Islamicgunman, yourself and the usual "hey look over there" first responders would be making excuses and posting links to christian inspired excesses. 

Datalife wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 3:44pm:


I myself start threads about such 'Islamicgunmen" all the time.

Datalife wrote on Dec 2^nd, 2014 at 3:28pm:


I didn't want to disappoint you DL.  I know you like me to be consistent in my inconsistencies.   

Quote:


Really?  Perhaps I actually don't give a stuff about any religion but am quite willing to protect innocent believers from persecution by ignorant feckwits who can't tell their arses from their elbows 'cause of their prejudices?   

Quote:


As usual, you miss the point of what I say DL.  If I am "all over" such stories it is to point out that all other Muslims are not any more responsible for what other Muslims do than Christians are for what other Christians do.   I do not accept guilt by association, which you seem to be defending by your comments.  Do you believe in guilt by association?  That membership of a group makes all members responsible for what one member may have done?  I felt I had to explain that 'cause I wonder sometimes about whether you really understand some of the terms we use in these discussions 'cause your responses seem to be rather biased.  So, do you believe in guilt by association?  Are all Muslims responsible when a single Muslim on the other side of the world decides to chop the head off some poor bvgger who's his victim?   

Oh dear, the "hey look over there first responders" appear frazzled, still no mention yet of this christian gunmen  being a minority, not representative, or posts of islamic excesses to distract and divert. 

I wonder why the first responders are behaving so differently, hmmmmm let me think.  LOL. 

Keep at it clowns.  ample demonstration of your bias.